Box Score
Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor men's basketball team had no answer for Louisiana College's red-hot second-half shooting and the Cru fell to the Wildcats 81-66 Thursday night in Belton. The UMHB men dropped their third straight game and fell to 6-5 overall and 4-3 in American Southwest Conference play with the loss. Louisiana College improves to 6-5 overall and 4-3 in the ASC with the victory.
UMHB fell behind by 11 points early in the first half and trailed 34-27 at halftime after shooting just 31 per cent from the field and 2-10 from beyond the arc in the first half. LC started to heat up in the second half and stretched the lead to as many as 21 points. The Cru did score the game's last six points to cut it to 81-66, but the game had been decided long before the late run.
The Wildcats shot 67 per cent from the field in the second half and hit 6-8 from three-point range. LC finished the game at 53 per cent from the field and 43 per cent from long-range. UMHB shot just 34 per cent from the field and 21 per cent from three-point range. The Cru also went just 18-36 from the free-throw line. The Cru out rebounded the Wildcats 47-39 and UMHB grabbed 25 offensive rebounds in the game.
Theo Ard led the Cru and posted game-highs with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Sterling Phillips came off the bench to add 11 points for UMHB and Rich Moore and
Zane Johnston scored 10 points apiece for the Cru. Korey Salmon topped LC with 16 points and 12 rebounds. Daniel Greenhouse added 13 points. Jelani Mitchell had 12 points and Chukwuma Ekeh scored 10 for the Wildcats. Seven different players scored eight or more points for LC in the victory.
The Cru men will continue their home stand with a 3:00 PM tip-off against Mississippi College on Saturday at the Mayborn Campus Center. The UMHB men will then host three ASC West Division games next week to close out a stretch of five straight home games.
